Interval-timer.



w. E. PORTER.

INTERVAL TIMER;

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, 1915. 4 1,158,282. Patented 0ct.26,1915..

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W. E. PORTER.

INTERVAL TIMER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4. 1915.

1,158,282. Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILSON E. PORTER, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO NEW HAVEN CLOCK 00., OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

INTERVAL-TIMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

- Application filed February 4, 1915. Serial No. 6,161.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ILsQN E. PORTER, a itizen of the United States, residing at New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented anew and useful Improvement in Interval- Timers; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, in

Figure 1 a view in front elevation of one form which an interval timer constructed in accordance with my invention, may assume. Fig. 2 a side view thereof. Fig. 3 a detached view of the timer-movement in rear elevation on an enlarged scale, with the rear movement-plate removed. Fig. 1 a view of the timer in vertical transverse sec tion. Fig. 5 a detached perspective view of the escapement-starting spring. Fig. 6 a detached view of one of the ratchet-springs.

My invention relates to an improved in terval timer, the object being to provide a simple, compact, reliable and convenient timing mechanism adapted to be set to mark any desired interval of time at the termination of which an alarm will be sounded.

his device may be used for a great variety of purposes, such as for timing cooking, photographic exposures, the application of heat in tempering metal, long distance telephone calls, etc.

ith these ends in view my invention consists in an interval timer having certain details of construction and combinations of parts'as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown, the mechanism is embodied in a device having the general appearance of what is commonly known as a nickel clock. The dial 2 is graduated in minutes, the numerals from 5 to 55 being arranged counterclockwise, and the zero mark occupying the place of 12 on an ordinary time-dial. The said dial 2 is swept by a setting-pointer 3 provided at its outer end with a stop-finger 4: and mounted upon the shoulder 5 of a hub 6 located in concentric openings in the dial 2 and dial-back 7. At its inner end the hub 6 mounts a gear-wheel 8 meshed into by a pinion 9 mounted upon the projecting forward end of a setting-arbor 10 journaled 1n the front and rear movement-plates 11 and 12 and extending rearward through the back 13 of the case 1% and through the bell 15 and furnished at its projecting rear end with a knurled setting-button 16 by turning which the setting-pointer 3 may be set vin any desired position with respect to the graduations on the dial and is held in any position in which it may be set by means of a triangular friction washer 17 mounted upon the said arbor 10 in position to engage with the inner face of the front movementplate 11 and placed under tension by collars 18 on the arbor. The dial 2 is also swept by a stop-pointer 19 which in its counter clockwise movement is brought to a stop by engagement with the stop-finger 1 of the setting-pointer 3. The said stop-pointer 19 is mounted upon the projecting forward end of a center-arbor 20 having bearing in the front and rear movement plates 11 and 12 and forming the bearing on which the hub 6 loosely turns.

The arbor 2O mounts a pinion 21 carrying a fine toothed ratchet wheel 22 the said pinion being meshed into and turned by a manually operable segmental rack 23 fixed upon a rock-arbor 21 journaled in the plates 11 and 12, and formed with an arm 25 carrying an operating-handle 26 extending outward through a slot 27 in the cylindrical case 1%. The arm 25 is furnished with a pin 28 for the attachment of the lower end of a helical main spring 29 the upper end of which is attached to a pin 30 in the rear movement-plate 12. This spring drives the escape-ment-train and is not only the main spring of the mechanism but also supplies the power for throwing the hammer 31 against the bell 15 and so sounding an alarm to mark the end of the interval to which the device is set; whatever the duration of that interval may be. The said hammer 31 is located at the end of a bent hammerarm 32 mounted upon the arbor 2%, and extending outward through a slot 33 in the back 13 of the case.

The helical, main-spring 29 is placed under tension and the timer virtually wound, by depressing the handle 26 whereby the rack rotates the pinion 21, and with it the fine toothed ratchet-wheel 22 which is engaged and held against reverse rotation under the pull of the spring 29, by means of two spring-pawls 34 each provided at one end with a tooth 35 engaging the teeth of the wheel 22, and at its opposite end with a mounting lug 36 by means of which the pawls are mounted in a gear-wheel 37 turning loosely upon the center-arbor 20 and forming an element of the escapement mechanism which may be of any approved construction and arrangement. The said wheel 37 meshes, as shown, into a pinion 38 on an arbor 39 carrying-a wheel 40 meshing into a pinion 41 on an arbor 42 carrying a wheel 43 meshing into a pinion 44 on an arbor 45 carrying an escapement-wheel 46 connected. in the usual manner by a balance-lever, not'shown, coacting with a balance-wheel 47 mounted on a balance-staff 48 carrying a starting-and stopping collar 49 the periphery of which is engaged by a spring 50 (Figs. 3 and 5) having an offsetting lug 51 by means of which it is mounted in the segmental rack 23.

The escapement-train just above described, is driven by the spring 29 acting through the rack 23 and pinion 21,the number of rack-teeth co-acting with the pinion 21, depending upon the initial setting of the stoppointer 19 which'limits and determines the manual operation of the rack.

For the purpose of sounding an alarm to mark the end of the interval to which the timer was set, the rack 23 has a number of teeth omitted at its upper end so as to form a blank space 52 inclosed, as it were, between the uppermost tooth 53 of the rack and a stop-tooth 53 located at the extreme upper corner of the rack. When the uppermost tooth 53 of the rack proper passes from the restraint of the pinion 21, the rack 23 is left unrestrained and under the infiuence of its spring 29, is caused to jump, as it were, through the distance represented by the space 52 at which time the hammer 31 strikes the bell 15, the rack being brought to a stop by the engagement of the said stop-tooth 53 with one of the teeth of the pinion 21. This free movement of the rack 23 brings its starting-and-stopping spring 50 into engagement with the collar 49 on the balance-staff 48 whereby the escapementtrain is stopped before the train has had a chance to turn the pinion 21 out of proper position for reengagement by the teeth of the rack when the same is again operated. When the mechanism is again energized by the depression of the handle 26 the spring 50 is lifted and rubbed, as it were, over the periphery of the collar 49 so as to start the balance-wheel swinging. By stopping the oscillation of the balance-wheel 47, as clescribed, the pinion 21 is stopped in the position in which it was left by the tooth 53 of the rack so that when the same is again lifted by its handle 26, its teeth will properly mesh into the teeth of the pinion 21.

The operation of my improved interval timer is as follows: Supposing that it is desired to set it for an interval of twelve minutes, the button 16 is turned until the setting-pointer 3 is brought into the twelve minute position on the dial 2 as shown in Fig. 1. The handle 26 is now depressed until its downward movement is stopped by the engagement of the stop-pointer 19 with the stop finger 4 of the setting-pointer 3, whereby the main-spring 29 is energized. As the handle 26 is depressedtherack 23 is lifted and the pinion 21 and ratchet-wheel idly rotated, the teeth of the latter riding under the spring pawls 34. As the rack is lifted, as described, the stopping-and-starting spring 50 will be frictionally swept over the periphery of the collar 49, whereby the balance-wheel will be started swinging so that at the instant downward pressure is removed from the handle 26, the spring 29 will begin running the escapement-train which will be driven for twelve minutes at the termination of which the uppermost tooth 53 of the rack will be disengaged from the pinion 21 after which the rack, as itwere, will be jumped through the blank space 52 by the spring 29 in discharging its function of throwing the hammer 31 against the bell 15. As the escapement-train is operated, the pointer 19 will move clockwise from its arrested position. against the stop-finger 4 of the pointer 3 to its zero position on the dial 2 which will always indicate how much of the interval has expired. The length of the interval between the setting of the mechanism and the sounding of the alarm depends upon the extent to which the operating-arm was depressed in the first instance and hence the amount the rack 23 was lifted, this being determined by the manually operable setting-pointer the position of which exactly determines the extent which the rack may be lifted by the depression of the arm 26. v

I claim 1. In an interval timer, the combination with a dial, of a concentrically pivoted setting-pointer arranged in front of the said dial, manually operable means for setting the said'pointer from the back of the timer,

a stop-pointer arranged in front of the dial concentric with the said settingpointer, an escapement-train connected with the stop-pointer, and a manually operable spring-actuated rack co-acting with a member of the escapement-train for driving the same for an interval predetermined by the distance to which the rack is moved in energizing its spring, the said distance being determined by the engagement of the said stop-pointer with said setting-pointer.

2. In an interval timer, the combination with a dial, of a concentrically pivoted setting-pointer arranged in front of the said dial, manually operable means for setting the said pointer from the back of the timer, a stop-pointer arranged in front of the said dial concentric with the said settingpointer, an escapement-train connected with the stop-pointer, a manually operable spring-actuated rack co-acting with a member of the escapement-train for driving the said train for an interval predetermined by the distance to which the rack is moved in energizing its spring, the said distance being determined by the engagement of the said stop-pointer with the said settingpointer; and means carried by the rack for sounding an alarm after the rack has been disengaged from the member of the escapement-train with which it co-acts in driving the same.

3. In an interval timer, the combination with a dial, of a manually operable settingpointer arranged in front of the said dial and constituting a stop, a stop-pointer also arranged in front of the said dial and movable concentric with the said pointer which stops it, an escapement-train connected with the stop-pointer, and a manually operable spring-actuated rack engaging with a pinion of the escapement-train and having an alarm-sounding space at the upper end of its teeth to permit it to be swung for striking an alarm and provided at the upper end of the said space with a stop member engaging with the said pinion for limiting the movement of the said rack In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILSON E. PORTER.

Witnesses CLARA L. WEED, FREDERIC C. EARLE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by'addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

